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Get Rid of Poison Ivy Without Getting It On You

Poison ivy hides among other weeds and a chance encounter can make you miserable. I was weeding the other day in my community garden bed and reached for something green. Fortunately I stopped myself before grabbing a very unwelcome “weed.”

This shiny three-leafed plant is distinctive and it was growing right in a row of sun scorched beets that are begging to be pulled out. Birds eat the seeds and that’s probably how this was planted.

I have had horrific bouts of poison ivy in the past and am very careful around it. Here is my solution to the occasional plant I find. Our local newspaper is delivered on rainy days in a long plastic bag. I save these for all sorts of gardening chores. For poison ivy I slip my arm into the bag, pull the ivy, and turn the bag inside out over my hand. My skin never gets close to the oils on the plant which cause the oozing blisters.

Use throw-away protection on your hands or over your gloves. The oils from the plant can get on your garden gloves and be transferred to your face. That observation is from personal experience. If you reach for something that even remotely looks like poison ivy, protect your hands and arms when pulling it.